Khouri sails away with Red Bulls Paper Wings title again

The University of Technology (UTech) skies were busy recently as more than 50 contestants came out to show off their paper-folding and flying techniques. The Alfred Sangster Auditorium, training ground to many of Jamaica's finest athletes, saw Khristoff Khouri defending his title as the Red Bull Paper Wings' longest distance holder for Jamaica.

Khouri, who last won the Red Bull Paper Wings contest's longest distance category in 2012 while he was studying at UTech as a finance and banking major, returned to his passion of flying paper planes and came determined to win again.

Smooth take-off

Provided with a tarmac of 35 metres - measured on a scale of 10 for every five metres - the Red Bull Paper Wings event drew a crowd of enthusiastic youngsters all willing to test their paper-folding and flight skills to win a trip to Hangar-7 in Salzburg, Austria, for the international finals on May 8 - 9, 2015. Khouri, the two-time local winner, arrived as the paper plane enthusiasts filled the Alfred Sangster Auditorium. He was the third contestant to fly and remained cool as he threw an impressive 38.5 metres. Of the many would-be captains, while some nosedived, others flew true, but none could come close to Khouri's winning distance.

"Practising was basically about trial and error," he said. "I built a number of planes and tried them."

His mantra for the day was simple: fold, fly, and win.

"The way how I folded it (paper plane), there is some physics to it, yes, because the less wing you have, it weighs less, so the less drag, and the heavier the nose is, the farther it goes up," Khouri explained.

A compliance officer at the St Mary Parish Council, he is looking forward to a break from work as the Jamaican Red Bull Paper Wings long distance winner will be jetting off to Austria, where he hopes to take home the international title.

You can follow Kristoff and the Red Bull Wings journey at redbullpaperwings.com.